Fanglu Lin, winner of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2021

Among the 30 finalists of the fourth edition of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize competition, one work stood out: “SHE”, by Chinese designer Fanglu Lin. Portrait of the competition winner.

 

Since 2016, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize has aimed to reward young international talent in the field of arts and crafts. A 50,000 euro prize is awarded to the winning work and its creator by Loewe‘s artistic director, Jonathan Anderson.

 

The 2020 edition of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize competition has been postponed for one year due to the health crisis. In previous years, the winners of the competition were Ernst Gamperl, Jennifer Lee and Genta Ishizuka, with special mentions given to other artists.

 

 

This year, there were 30 finalists from 18 different countries, and contemporary artist Fanglu Lin stood out by winning the first prize with the “SHE,” while special mentions were given to sculptor David Corvalán from Chile and ceramicist Takayuki Sakiyama from Japan.

 

“When faced with his work, the scale is so large that it encompasses you,” says Jonathan Anderson of “SHE“. “I’ve never seen work like this. It takes textile techniques to a different level.”

 

Fanglu Lin‘s “SHE” is a cream-colored sculpture made entirely of fabric, a ubiquitous textile among the competition finalists’ works. The young designer said she used a Chinese dyeing technique taught to her by the women of the bai, a population located in the southwestern region of Yunnan.

 

 

“It took three months of intensive work, of repetitive and scrupulous knitting, sewing, folding and pleating,” Fanglu Lin said. “The tricky part was following the shapes and patterns I had drawn on a blank fabric while the assembly and dyeing process had already begun.”

 

For Fanglu Lin, contemporary art is inseparable from traditional art. From Zhoucheng Village in DaLi City, YunNan Province, the young woman learned the tie-dyeing technique of the Bai community from its residents.

 

“During nearly a year of research in Zhoucheng Village, I conducted ingenious experiments on the dyeing process of the Bai community, including the collection and study of embroidery technology, the derivation of design to embroidery, and dyeing experiments using different materials,” confides the winning artist of the contest.

 

 

The Room platform, dedicated to the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2021 competition, allows us to discover Fanglu Lin’s work “SHE” in 3D, but also those of all the finalists of this year, through a virtual space that recreates the interior of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

 

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Featured photo: © Fanglu Lin